Deflategate Investigation Exposes Corruption Within NFL
Deflategate has been around since January and unfortunately it’s still going strong. I’m not here to sway you one way or the other because most of you made up your mind the day the scandal emerged. On one end of the spectrum are the people who believe the Patriots are dirty cheaters led by ‘Tom Shady,’ and have scammed their way to four Super Bowl wins. On the other end are the fans who believe the Golden Boy remains a saint who has done no wrong.
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For the rest of us, we flip-flop everyday with each new piece of information released. All of it is spun and reported (or not) based on the intended audience and the relationship each individual media outlet has with the NFL. We as fans eat it all up.
Deflategate began with leaks and misinformation galore. Initially, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that 11 of 12 game balls were inflated two pounds per square inch below NFL regulations. The report turned out to be incorrect and of course Mortensen pulled the plug on appearing on the Boston area radio station WEEI. The Wells report came out with corrections months later, but by then public outrage had made this much worse of a situation than it really is.
Even the Wells report seems to have a bit of faulty logic when it stated that either one football remained deflated one pound PSI or none of them were because the head official was unable to distinguish between which gauge was used, as each yielded a different measurement. The Patriots tried to contact the league to stop the misinformation from occurring, but the NFL seemed to turn a blind eye. Yet, the same league earlier this week confirmed that Mike Kensil, the NFL vice president of game operations who remains linked to the leaks, has never been on the NFL Operations website.
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Now let’s do a little background digging on Kensil. He was director of operations for the New York Jets. He worked for them during Bill Belichick’s brief tenure with the team and has reportedly been less than fond Belichick for a while now. Also according to rumors, Kensil apparently took to catching the Patriots doing something ethically questionable. Outside of New England nobody has mentioned the link between Kensil and the Patriots. ESPN, the biggest outlet in sports, fails to report it because it does not work with their narrative and hurts their relationship with the NFL.
According to Adam Schefter, Chris Mortensen got false information to intentionally smear the Patriots from two or three high level officials. How can anybody possibly call this an impartial investigation? From the flaws in the Wells report to the misinformation being spread by the NFL, to the personal vendetta some of the high level officials seem to have against the Patriots, something is very wrong here.
It has never been about deflated footballs or Tom Brady versus the NFL. It has always been bigger than that. Not only is the about the NFL Players’ Association versus the NFL, but it is a way to get back at the Patriots from the rest of the league. Just imagine if this occurred with the team you rooted for. How exactly would you feel?